Reviews by shamrock071521:

More User Reviews:

This beer is more towards a orange citrus IPA treat but with some wheat that is there but not full front and center. It's delicious and smells wonderful out of a mason jar with jimi hendrix spinning under a needle.

my humble opinion: one of the best beers ever.
Hard to find another beer so balanced between its hoppy character, wheat base and natural fruity aroma. I can't think of a time or place not to drink this.
While it's somewhat mass produced and available everywhere, that a good thing for all.
To me this is the beer that put Lagunitas on the map.
pout this in a nice glass, kick your feet up and life will get better

Hoppy wheat is what the beer geeks are callin' for. This beer has a thick, wheat-induced head and clear, pale amber color. It has some sweet breadiness underneath a big tide of hop aroma. It's super smooth and easy to drink. It has a thick flavor of soft, floral and fruity hops, and the bitterness is there, but nothing too sharp--more like dried grass or tobacco. This beer has a bit of a snappy, dry malt character and is faintly yeasty with some warming esters. The hops stay on the palate far into the aftertaste. This one has it all figured out--an amazing ale.

A: Poured into a pint glass a very clear bright gold color; had a bright white and thick head about a finger and a half in size that retained well and left lacing. The reason I gave its looks such high marks is in the little things, the head looked very dense and sticky, the rush of bubbles; it was all very appealing.

S: This worried me when I first opened the bottle. There was a very strong pine smell, I was expecting a more balanced beer since it is a wheat ale but it smelled almost like an IPA. On the whole though the sent was well done: pine, maybe grass, plus grapefruit and other citrus and fruit with a slight hint of bread. Not what I expected, but good.

T: Much more balanced then the scent implied. There is a large amount of hops up front, not to bitter but they still make a statement. This is followed by citrus fruits, and at the end the wheat and bread flavors, though these were the weakest overall.

M: Well carbonated giving a thick frothy feel. The tingle of the bitter hops can be felt on the tongue. It finishes smooth leaving a pine/citrus aftertaste. Very refreshing.

O: While I am not a big fan of hoppy beers and I was not expecting so much hops in this one in particular, I found myself really enjoying this beer. It was balanced and refreshing, there was a good complexity to the flavors and they matched nicely together. I certainly would recommend this beer with the caveat that one should be prepared for a lot of hops and a hint of wheat, which is actually not a bad combo.

This beer pours an ever so slightly hazy pale golden yellow hue, with two fat fingers of puffy, bubbly, and loosely foamy eggshell white head, which leaves a more or less solid, yet pockmarked paint job of lace around the glass as it gently melts away.

It smells of orange citrus cream, a bit of good ol' barley and sweet n' spicy wheat maltiness, black pepper aerosol, and some stronger, more acrid pine needle hops. The taste is bitter pine resin and sassy fleshy orange and grapefruit citrus, bready caramel malt, a hint of saltwater taffy, a bit of reduced spicy wheatiness, further grassy/floral hop notes, and some mildly sweet booze warming.

The carbonation is quite sedate in its bearing, just a faint frothiness manifesting, the body a decently hefty medium weight, especially for the style, mostly smooth, and certainly not un-creamy. It finishes with the main players still quite game - sweet caramel and wheat malts, and unabashedly brash pine and citrus hops. Ya know - Lagunitas.

American Pale Wheat Ale my sort of pale Canadian ass. I know that this is made with wheat malt, then, ok, but the rest of the story screams out tasty WC IPA, despite the wheatiness, and I'm not going to fault a damned agreeable beer for being cast in the wrong category because of the black sheep in its makeup.

As close to perfect it can get for me. The first smell when you pop the cap is inviting and the taste is second to none. You can taste the perfect mix of hops and it's not overwhelming after the first sip.

Straw color fairly unremarkable but off-white head quite tall and leaves some lace. Nice fruity hop aromas immediately. A delicious honeyed malt flavor leads the taste; I'm surprised how delicate the hops are given their prominence in the nose and the label's report of 64.20 IBU. The honey and fruit guide the flavor and the hops are always present but never interrupt, never overwhelm, never seem out of balance. Mouthfeel clean. What a surprise.

Brown bottle poured into a glass. Did not see a date on the bottle, but if it were fresher it would only be better, I suppose.

T (4.25) – Really good taste. You get that upfront bitter, and that same piney taste at the end. It almost has a better aftertaste than taste. And that’s no insult! I didn’t get a lot of malt or grain taste. I like a little bit of that to balance the hops.

I poured it into a ceramic mug (all ive got at college) Beautiful orange yellow amber type color. Head was small, off white, size of head probably reduced by the container and my cruddy wash job.
Smells fruity, pineapple maybe, citrus with a hoppy smell at the very end.

Taste is sweet initially with a kind of hoppy bite to it, the sweetness persists for a while, becoming really nice in the middle of my swallow before giving in to hop bitterness in the aftertaste. The sweetness might put some people off but it seems well balanced to me, and definitely doesn't give away the alcohol content. Do yourself a favor and stock up on this one, I have had a craving for it for months. Overall maybe the best ipa I have had so far.

Poured center from 12 oz bottle into a snifter. I actually had to pour canted because the head was so large. Clean pale straw color with a thick creamy head of consistent fine-moderate sized bubbles that would make you think it were nitrous were it not for the bubble size. Thick retention stays around and leaves thick sticky lacing. As you drink the sip lines stay on the glass. Several streams of carbonation mostly concentrated around the center of the glass.. Looks fantastic

S: Buttered toast aroma with a floral hop and lemon in the finish.

T: Buttered white toast body with a little caramel. Easy lime finish. Extremely easy to drink and this will be gone in no time. Very easy to drink for a 7.5% beer.

F: Creamy mouthfeel and the hops are zippy on the tongue in the finish.

A: Very see through yellow. 3 finger head that retains well. Awesome looking.

S: Lots of grapefruit. Very citrusy.

T: Grapefruit, wheat. Some malt.

M: Creamy smooth thanks in part to the wheat.

O: This blew my socks off. It's definitely a West Coast, hop forward APA/APWA/IPA, or however people want to categorize it. It has a very nice grapefruit sweetness that comes on first, followed with a slightly bitter wash that then fades into citrusy sweetness again. The alcohol is also completely hidden and it does go down easily. This is an outstanding beer and one of my favorites.

This is just great beer. Something refreshingly different. It may be a little sweet for some but for me it makes for a great session beer. Just enough hoppy bitterness to react well with the sweet flavor. This is the best beer I have had from lagunitas so far. It hides the 7.5% abv almost to well.

S: First thing that came to me was citrus hops. Pine and floral hops mixed in with just a hint of breadiness, wheat. Pretty strong scent from the malts, too. The result was a nose that was very sweet and earthy.

T: Taste follows scent, but with the malts on equal footing with the hops. Citrus, pine, earthiness, brown sugar. Moderate hop bitterness. A little sweeter than I would like, but the balance is pretty good. Alcohol is very well masked.

M: Medium body and a little syrupy. A bit sticky, but there's no astringency, so that's a plus. Aftertaste lingers, mostly citrus hops and malt sweetness. Pretty smooth and creamy, but nothing outstanding.

O: Very drinkable and refreshing. It had been hyped up for me quite a bit and I wasn't disappointed, so it's a win for me. It's a little sticky-sweet, though. I'd rate a little higher if not for that, but I'll be sure to pick this up again. It's my first from Lagunitas, so I'll wanna give some of their other brews a try.

EDIT: Subsequent tastings have been less sticky-sweet. This one might have had to do with temperature or some other factor, but the malty sweetness probably isn't as heavy as I might have made it seem.

I like that I can get this beer relatively fresh in the middle of nowhere. Pours a yellow color with some cloudiness that shows off the 50% wheat grain bill. Very enjoyable C hop aroma, you definitely can make a nice aromatic beer with C hops despite some often prevalent subjective wisdom running contrary to that thought.

Plenty of good green vegetal C hop goodness in the taste, bitter but not overly. Mouthfeel really does wheat beers well, nice and light, dry body that really lets the hops shine.

Easily top 1st tier wheat beer, done very well, better than almost any other I can think of. Easy availability will hurt its score on the BA top beers board, not rare enough, but to those who aren't into Pokemon level stuff, this really satisfies taste buds and the wallet. Sorry, no fedex bux here.

Pour from a 12 oz bottle into a nonic pint. Pale golden in color, with a very slight bit of haze, topped by a thick pillowy white head a good two inches tall. Head fell fairly slowly, leaving good lacing.

Aroma is fresh, pine-y and citric, with a bit of malt sweetness in the background.

Flavor is bright and clean, with an excellent harmony of citrus hops and sweet malts. Really, this is possibly the first beer I've tasted where one does not outweigh the other on the palate- grapefruit-ishe hops seem to actually ride on top of a honey-like malt base. As the beer sits on the palate, some earthy and floral notes from the hops rise up along with faintly toasted biscuit malt tones The distinct 'snap' from the wheat in the grain bill is here, just like a good weizen. The finish is just slightly dry with lingering floral hops.

Mouthfeel is medium-bodied, a little syrupy, thicker than might be expected. The alcohol punch is surprising- this does not seem like a 7.5 % beer. This one could definitely sneak up on you.

This was my first Lagunitas beer, and I am beyond impressed. The sort of balancing act they accomplish between the malts and hops is frankly amazing. This is a classic Pale Ale, and one that everyone should try if they're serious about beer.

As a disclaimer, I'm not a huge fan of hoppy beers. I'm open to IPAs, but I generally dislike the almost soapy aftertaste that some of the more bitter ones have. As soon as I smelled this beer, though, I could tell Lagunitas was doing it right. The smell of this beer is a hop citrus bomb. It really is one of the better smelling beers I've ever sampled-- really sharp and floral. Luckily, the taste follows the nose almost exactly. This beer opens with intense citrus hoppiness but finishes smoothly. The perfect use of 60+ IBUs. Combines the awesome citrus aspects of a good wheat beer with the floral hoppiness of an IPA.

Look: It had a half inch. of very white head. It can be alot larger if poured more agressively. The body has a yellow/orangish color with a slight haze and no sediment at the bottom. There is carbonation thoughout the glass and tons of white snowy lacing.
Nose: You get pine, citrus, and grapefruit mainly.
Taste: I tasted grapefruit, citrus, apricot(once it is warmer) and tropical fruits. You can expect bitter hops that is farely present on the aftertaste. The alcohol is not extremely noticeable for the 7.5% ABV's.
moulthfeel: light and crisp
Overall: It is really not that cloudy for a wheat ale, but it is a pale wheat ale, so maybe that is why. Anytime it is a beer with wheat in it I would like to see some chunky sediment in there, but I can't complain because I always enjoy this ale. It is always consistent whether it's had in the bar, or at home in the bottle. It satisfies the craving for a light bodied beer that has hop bitterness, without being overly bitter. It is fruity without being too sweet and still tastes like beer. How do they do it? Lil' Sumpin' Sumpin' is the best of it's kind for sure!

Poured into tulip glass. It pours a clear, golden-honey color with a frothy, snow-white head and really extensive lacing. It smells of malt, grapefruit, pine, honey, and floral hops. The taste is much maltier than I anticipated but in a good way. The taste also features grapefruit, pine, caramel, and hops. The balance between malt and hop is outstanding This ale is medium-bodied, lightly carbonated, and with an ABV of 7.5%, it is very easy to drink. Overall, this is an outstanding ale, deserving of its excellent rating and reputation. You can drink this one casually or accompanying a hearty meal. It's outstanding!